Greetings friends – Besides our Sunday Communion at the Christian Community Church here in Chicago, we also have services on Tuesdays & Thursday mornings. Not many folks come out on the weekdays, unless it falls on a Feast Day, so it’s essentially an offering for the Beloved Dead, & for the Beings of the Spiritual World. These intimate times are my favorite & I often serve at the altar on these days.
Today’s Gospel reading was from Ephesians 6: 10-20 – the last part of the last chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, authored by Saul who after his Damacus experience became Paul the Apostle.
I work closely with the synoptic Gospels. But I admit I have not spent much time with Peter & Paul who tend to prick my feminist sensibilities. But this Michaelic letter attributed to Paul set me on fire – It speaks directly to what we are facing now, especially in light of the up-coming Solar eclipse this Saturday 14 October 2023 – The 1st New Moon after the Autunmal Equinox.
When I got home, I picked up my bible & started reading Ephesians, where we are told in the first verse that it was written by “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” (1:1)
This book is an epistle, meaning it’s a letter. And Paul wrote this particular letter, addressed to the Church in Ephesus, while he was being held captive as a prisoner in a Roman jail! .
Ephesus was once part of Greece, which today is near the western shores of modern-day Turkey, where the Aegean Sea meets the coast of Ionia.
The city was famous in its day for the Ancient Mystery School & Temple dedicated to Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, which was burnt to the ground by an arsonist on 21 July 356 BC, the day Alexander the Great was born.
Rudolf Steiner speaks about the connection of Ephesus & the Temple of Artemis with the burning of the 1st Goetheanum in the ‘World History in the Light of Anthroposophy’ lectures he gave in the evenings during the Christmas Conference. We have referred to these lectures many times here on RR. They offer many occult clues that are very insightful, especially now 3 months before the 100 year anniversary of the Christmas Conference – When Steiner opened the New Mysteries of Anthroposophia to the world.
~Sigmund Gleismüller
Patmos an Island in Ephesus is where St. John the Divine wrote the Gospel of John, & the Book of Revelation thru the inspiration of Mother Mary, who lived with him there, & continued to inspire him after Her Assumption. Lazarus-John, who was ‘The Disciple whom Jesus Loved’ died many years later in that same place.
~Matthias Grünewald
From John 19:26-29, we hear: 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”
Before going to prison, the Apostle Paul spent 3 years in Ephesus, speaking boldly, leading daily discussions, & doing extraordinary miracles by the power of God (Acts 19).
I would like to share what I heard read from the altar today by Rev. Jeana Lee:
Ephesians 6: The Armor of God
Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 6, 10-20 Translation by Rev Craig Wiggins
“What it comes to in the end is this: Let his strength and might flow through you in order to serve the Lord. Put on the full armor of God that you may withstand all the well-aimed attacks of the devil. For what we face is not a fight against blood and flesh, but against spirit-beings, against Archai, against Exousiai, against cosmic powers whose darkness rules the present time, against beings that are themselves powers of evil in the heavens and on the earth.
Therefore take up the God-given armor, so that you can withstand the evil on the day that it reaches its climax. You should stand there as those who follow everything through to the end.
Stand upright and gird your loins with truthfulness.
Strive for righteousness and balance in your judgement. It will shield your middle like a breastplate.
Shoe your feet with the readiness to proclaim the gospel of peace to all you meet.
Have faith in God that will provide you with a shield with which you can quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Think about the mystery of Christ’s deed of salvation that will protect your head as a helmet.
And grasp the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God in your speaking.
May this armour protect you in all your supplications and prayers, when you, at the right times, lift up your souls to the spirit and, in wakefulness and with tireless effort, make your intercessions for all who would know Christ’s healing power.
Take me, Paul, into your prayers as well, so that when I open my mouth the strength of the Word may be given me and I may courageously and openly expound the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am a messenger in chains.”
May we put this powerful Michaelic imagination to work for ourselves in the world!
~hag
10.10.23 – “Speaking with the Stars”: In the dawn twilight look for dazzling Venus (occult Mercury) in conjunction with Regulus – the Heart of Leo the Lion. Bella Luna in her waning mood will also be visible in the dome of the morning sky!
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Today 10.10 begins the 16 day Hindu Festival for the dead Shradh Ekadashi. Offerings are also made to Vishnu ‘one who is everything and inside everything’ known as The Preserver within the Trimurti, the triple deity of supreme divinity that includes Brahma, the Sustainer & Shiva, the Destroyer.
680 – Deathday of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Mohammed, beheaded by the forces of Yazid, led by the son of Caliph Muawiyah, who Rudolf Steiner tells us was reincarnated as Woodrow Wilson.
1780 – The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 30,000–50,000 in the Caribbean.
1913 – President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike, completing major construction on the Panama Canal.
1957 – The Windscale fire results in Britain’s worst nuclear accident
1973 – U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with evasion of federal income tax
1980 – The 7.1 Mw El Asnam earthquake shakes northern Algeria, killing 20,633 and injuring 80,369
The 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox – Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse
| GLOBAL EVENT: | Annular Solar Eclipse |
|---|---|
| LOCAL TYPE: | Partial Solar Eclipse in Cahokia Mounds State Historic SIte, Illinois |
| BEGINS: | Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 10:32 am |
| MAXIMUM: | Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 11:57 am 0.634 Magnitude |
| ENDS: | Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 1:27 pm |
| DURATION: | 2 hours, 55 minutes |
All are welcome to meet on the inner planes during any part of the duration of the Solar eclipse – which Spiritual Science tells us is like the releasing of a safety valve – allowing the unbridled astral urges of the adversarial forces living in humanity, which are normally held in check by the spiritual beings working in the rays of the Sun, to instead surge out to infect the cosmic spaces, including our beloved dead & the unborn. (More on this soon)
We are all set for the Michaelmas Speaking with the Stars retreat 13-15 October 2023 at Cahokia Mounds – a sacred Mississippian Indian site in Collinsville, Illinois, called by the ancients: Sun City.
Save the Dates for Community Workings
| October 14 | Annular Solar Eclipse |
| October 21-22 | Orionids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak |
| October 23 | Venus at Greatest Western Elongation |
| October 28 | Full Hunter’s Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse |
All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Bon-fire
Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas
7 – 9 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile
Please Bring a jar for the prep
RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
The reprise of the 2017 Great American Eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse
Stay tuned for details about a Retreat for this Solar Eclipse Event in Fort Worth, Texas
Begins: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 12:22 pm
Maximum: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 1:41 pm 1.005 Magnitude
Ends: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 3:01 pm
Duration: 2 hours, 39 minutes
Totality: 2 minutes, 34 seconds
Lunar Eclipse Sep 18, 2024
More questions . Did Mary live with John on Patmos? If so where can I read about it, and where can I read about how she worked with John after her assumption? Also, questions about the eclipse and it “acting as a safety valve and allowing astral urges of the adversarial forces living in humanity, which are normally held in check by the spiritual beings working on the sun, to surge out to infect the cosmic spaces, including our beloved dead and unborn.” What are the consequences of this for us on earth today as well as the dead and the unborn, and how can we counteract this? What do you see happening during this time? And how does it act as a safety value?
Hi Janet, Yes these are interesting concepts to consider. Lazarus-John takes Mary, who Steiner tells us in the 5th Gospel is the Matthew Mary, who right before the baptism receives thru the confession of Christ Jesus the I being of the Luke Jesus working from the Spiritual World, but also the Divine Sophia flows into her. They live at Patmos in the powerful influence there from the Temple of Artemis active in the ethers. And when she has her Assumption the inspiration continues to flow into St. John. This is depicted by many initiate artists.
Besides the 5th Gosple you can hear more from SOP’s work especially The Heavenly Sophia & the Being Anthroposophia. Also several books by Virgina Sease & Manfred Schmidt-Brabant: The Archetypal Feminine, The New Mysteries & the Wisdom of Christ. And Michael Debus’s book Mary and Sophia…
For the eclipse stuff here is my main resource.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA213/English/APC1960/HumCos_index.html
Paul wrote his Epistle to the Ephesians, who he had once visited, while in prison in Rome, c. 62-63 AD. Now, when John the Evangelist wrote Revelations some years later, he writes down this in the Letter to Ephesus, and it seems to pay homage to Paul.
Message to Ephesus
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. 6 Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’ Revelation 2
Paul is someone who upheld and displayed this toil and perseverance, and I believe it can be found here in this letter to Ephesus. Going even further back to where the Mystery of Ephesus existed, c. 500 BC, it was still possible to be initiated into the spiritual world and leave “the first love”.
I think this has a deep relation to Aristotle and Alexander in their former life together at Ephesus, when the one was initiated right into the depths of Artemis Herself. He was reborn in order to have it happen again under the tutelage of Aristotle. Thus, he attained to self-realization at a very young age. He would go on to conquer nations.
This also can be found in the message to Ephesus, as taken down by John.
I like this from Ephesians 3: Paul’s Stewardship
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+3&version=NASB1995
Perfect…
The deeper side
Thank you
So beautiful and so powerful. How do we get to this place ourselves?
By receiving the Holy Spirit like Saul did on the road to Damascus. Acts 9 covers this remarkable event, and when one considers that Saul was going there to arrest Christians in the sovereign nation of Syria, he is lucky he wasn’t killed, because that is exactly what would have happened. Instead, he was saved by Christ in order to be His bondslave. “16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
I think that when Paul was in Ephesus he received many impressions of the Cosmic Word that still remained in the atmosphere from when the ancient Mystery of Ephesus existed. It is said that the prologue to the Gospel of John flowed out of this mystery. When Paul wrote this epistle, he had come to know much more about the potential of human development through Christ.
With the working of the Holy Spirit, why Paul, why then, how was he made ready for this? How can we be made ready for that change? The great irony — the great persecutor and then the great advocate!
I used to ask myself these questions because Saul of Tarsus didn’t seem to deserve this redemption at all. Then, over time and a long process of inner reception toward understanding his fate and destiny, it was revealed that in a former life he had been murdered at the very point in which an initiation was about to take place. In fact, the Hierophant Priest of this ceremony was also murdered. Thus, in truth, he had been previously prepared but died before the process of initiation could be completed. This had the effect of creating the karmic condition in which he was born “out of due time” in his next life. Paul readily admits this after his conversion on the Road to Damascus. The Hierophant Priest of this ancient mystery, a Mithras Mystery, also reincarnated at the time of Christ. He would also struggle for many years to find his way, like Saul, and then meet Christ just after the Baptism. He would eventually become the leader of the Christian movement after the three years that Christ walked the Earth. For these two, who had suffered death in the downfall of the last true school of the ancient mysteries, c. 165 BC, were destined to meet again as Peter and Paul at the great turning point of time.
Thanks for asking these questions because it allows the flexibility and open expanse of the mind to say things that have waited to be said for a long time. That is why patience has to be an anthroposophical virtue, like the others. You have allowed a further insight to come forth. Thank you.
Thank you. This makes amazing sense to me. It is one of the tenderest reveals that I have experienced. Compassion seems to flow in for the destiny of these two and their struggles, and awe and great gratitude for what they accomplished.
Yes, they accomplished a great deal together, and especially after Peter’s miraculous escape from his imprisonment at the hands of Herod Agrippa I just before the Passover, c. 44 AD.
Peter’s Arrest and Deliverance
“Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. 2 And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. 3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. 5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
6 On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. 11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” 12 And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. 13 When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is his angel.” 16 But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and the brethren.” Then he left and went to another place.”
Acts 12.
This seems pretty indicative that something supersensible has taken place. Peter has been raised right out of his physical body. This is where he appeals to Mary Magdalene, and then goes to help Paul.
Yes, I was really struck, too, about how opportune the words of the gospel were this Sunday in relation to what is going on. It seems people do not understand the gravity of what is taking place and don’t see the need to “take up the full armor of God.”
Here, too, in Spring Valley, the weekday services are especially holy, almost like being in a monastery with few in attendance.
Yes we are really being called to APPLY all these teachings. Now more than ever!
And we can trust that when we do make an effort we are given the help we need
we see that many hands make light work
Humble Holy Lightworkers unite
“But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.” John 19
We must remember that the Mother had died when Jesus was twelve. Her return to Earth occurred 18 years later when Jesus was 30. She incorporated within the sheaths of the stepmother, Mary, and then enters the Household of Lazarus-John under the Cross of Golgotha. The new sonship begins. As such, they live out a long life serving the Apostleship, and then go to Patmos where the echoes of Ephesus serve to produce the images contained in the Book of Revelation; the book of the future that Christ predicts when discussing the destruction of the temple with His disciples just before the Passover.
Here is a further explanation of this trinity relationship between the so-called “Three Marys” below the Cross. The Mother relates to the Consciousness Soul, the Stepmother (Mary) relates to the Intellectual Soul, and Mary Magdalene relates to the Sentient Soul.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA100/English/LR1942/19071120p01.html
“Let us now consider another scene in this Gospel. In (John 19:25), we read: “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother, and His mothers sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.” If we wish to understand this Gospel it is necessary to know who these three women are. We do not usually give two sisters the same name; neither was it the custom in former times. The passage we have quoted proves that, according to St. John’s Gospel, the mother of Jesus was not called Mary. If we search through the whole of this Gospel we nowhere find it said that the mother of Jesus was called Mary. In the scene of the Marriage of Cana, for example, Chapter 2, we only read, “the mother of Jesus was there.” In these words something important is indicated, something we only understand when we know how the writer of this Gospel uses his words. What does the expression “the mother of Jesus” mean?”
This leads to this interesting diagram, which needs to be studied.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA100/English/LR1942/images/GA100-2-006.gif
Yes, We went over this in our exploration of mary Magdalene
https://youtu.be/VeamVoAqqI4?feature=shared
Yes, but it is important to reiterate that it was the Mother of Jesus, the Divine Sophia, who returned to Earth after 18 years in the spiritual world, and incorporated into Mary, the sister soul, who was not only the mother of the Matthew Jesus, who died at the age of 12, but also the stepmother of the Nathan Jesus.
It is the Mother of Jesus that enters the household (astral body) of Lazarus-John, and not the Matthew Mary.
https://i0.wp.com/reverseritual.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/image-59.png?ssl=1
Matthias Grünewald depicts the scene, and as you say, some painters were very intuitive and inspired.